Thursday, April 28, 2005

GM Battle Sprouts in the States

I'm personally against GM foods. I've had this discussion before on an African Website and it didn't go well at all. There is a big push to give third world countries these GM crops to alleviate hunger. However, there is ample evidence to show that the biotech companies haven't adequately tested the products before they are being used for public consumption. Interestingly, unless you by organic foods in the US, you are already consuming these products. They are on your supermarket shelves. I think (and I haven't done any research on this at the present) that this may be part of the reason why African Americans have the health issues they have and the other part is that there are too many hormones in milk products, hair products, etc. etc. At some point, I will be discussing this topic in more details as time permits. As for me, to avoid the consumption of GM foods that I'm convinced are not safe, I spend the extra money to buy organic foods and even this may not be safe since it has been reported that GM seeds have cross-pollinated with non-GM seeds. In other words, farms that were known producers of organic crops have been contaminated with these seeds.Seed companies, pharmaceutical makers and biotechnology groups are pushing legislators to limit oversight of experimental crops designed to resist disease and insects or to produce chemicals and enzymes for scientific research. But environmentalists and food and beverage producers are urging caution, warning lawmakers of unknown economic and health risks of genetically engineered crops that could cross-pollinate with regular plants.

State lawmakers, so far, are siding mostly with biotechnology proponents. Seven states -- Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Pennsylvania -- have enacted laws to prohibit counties and other local governments from banning or regulating genetically enhanced seeds in their jurisdictions. A similar bill, supported by the agribusiness industry, is awaiting action by the governor in Georgia. And like-minded measures are being considered by legislatures in Arizona, Oklahoma and West Virginia.